Noisy chicken... what on earth does she want?!

[jennirowlands]

We recently got 2 chickens (both bantams) and now have a major noise problem with just 1 of them... our Dutch Bantam, makes a terrible screeching noise AS WELL as her new egg noise.

It sounds as if something is wrong - it's certainly not a very happy tuk-tuk-tuk noise, but I can't for the life of me think what the problem might be.
- It's a high pitched, repetative screeching (not a contented tuk-tuk noise)
- She does it very frequently, on and off all day
- No link with her new egg noises
- No apparent link with producing an egg (she lays every other day now, and she's shouting more-or-less the whole time, every day... unless she's actually in the chicken house)
- No apparent link with the time of day. Anytime that it's light, she can shout.

The ONLY time she's really quiet is a) when I first go outside (I think she's expecting attention But if I'm just pottering in the garden, she'll start up again) or when b) she's being distracted by food titbits I've thrown in the run for them.

Our Plymouth Rock Bantam is very chilled and quiet (except for her "new egg" squark), so it's not a food/water/space/entertainment problem I guess.....

My husband has had chickens before and never encountered this problem. He agrees it sounds like there's a problem, though can't think what.

Is it possible that there isn't actually anything wrong, and that she's just noisy?

We live in a dense residential area and, if she's simply noisy by nature, she will have to be re-homed. At the moment it's annoying us, let alone our oor neighbours!

Any suggestions on possible problems or solutions would be very welcome. Or, if you are familiar with chicken behaviour and know that some chickens are simply vocal, it'd also be good to know so I can stop worrying!

Many thanks for your input and suggestions

Jenni

PS. No offence, but I don't need anybody telling us they also have a noisy chicken at home... that really doesn't help very much!

 

[GD91]

Describe the sound. Is it an "EEEEEE!, EEE! EEE! EEE!" noise or "Ack, ACK, ACK ACK ACK!" noise.

I have a hen that does both when shes annoyed. She starts going E! & ends going ACK!

Right now I'm having issues with the little madam insisting on coming indoors to lay her egg. She's a fluffy cochin bantam. Yesterday we locked her out & she just stood at the back door screaming with her legs crossed for 3 hours. I finally cracked, tossed her in the living room & she started making happy noises, barred us all from entering & within ten minutes we had an egg & she announced the egg song in the living room.

What I think is happening with your hen (if she's in a run) she's bored & she wants you to let her out so she can follow you around. I live in a town to & all of my hens are loose in the garden. If we pen them, they get very noisy within an hour. I have bantam EE's (including a cockerel who we bring in at night) & a cochin. So, I understand where your coming from.

Unfortunately the disadvantages of not penning are I have had to clip their wings & guard all my plants. My lawn is gone from the winter rains & just starting to come back. The weeds / plants are gone. (I have 5 chickens, 1 big roo, & 4 bantam or small hens) Also I had to set up a baby gate against chickens racing in through the backdoor.

The advantages though are my hens are very quiet, always occupied outside & they get to enjoy socializing in a stimulated environment (we also have rabbits & quail). They follow me around whilst I'm doing the garden & tending to the other animals.

With just 2 hens, you should have no problems unless your yard is tiny. Then they will adapt by attempting to get into your house.
My hens always follow me about in the garden, which is pretty small, but decent enough.

Chickens are very inquisitive & intelligent birds & its hard to keep them occupied in a pen.

I have one bird I can call from within the house (a leghorn) & she will race across the garden & indoors to find me.

Otherwise you could try getting them some toys & perches to play with. Or extend their pen. See if that works, but I've found my bunch get bored of the stuff very quickly & want out again.

So yes, she does want your attention

she wants to follow you around all day everyday when she is not getting into things she probably shouldn't like falling into buckets of paint or sitting on top of the shed. In a way, pet chickens aren't that different from dogs, they don't like being ignored or bored.

Being a dutch bantam she is an active, flighty little breed so make sure you clip her wings if you do allow her out. Otherwise you will be doing what I did & calling her down off the sheds with a treat. And look out for cats, in a town they will be your top predator.
I have 2 dogs & a cat which don't chase our birds & they keep other predators away from the garden. Never lost a chicken.

Welcome to chicken keeping &

 

[Bens-Hens]

I have a BA that moans....she moans if it's hot, she moans for an egg song, she moans after laying her egg and she moans more when there is no rooster around.

Lucky for her she is an excellent layer of large eggs and winter is coming!

 

[jennirowlands]

Hi GD91 ,

That was really interesting to read! She makes a KAK KAK KAK noise.

Sadly, letting ours out is not going to be a possibility for us... we have SO many cats in this area, it would be foolish to let them out. We have 5 or 6 cats who are regular visitors to our garden and use it as a bit of a highway to nextdoor neighbours (downside of terraced housing!). I would love it if they could wander the garden, even if we would have to fence off all our veggies! Our chickens are also not very tame yet (I'm working on it haha) so retrieving them at nighttime would be a challenge!

The run she came from was a little smaller than the one she's in now, and she was originally with more chickens too. We're actually going to look at a third chicken on Saturday - a cochin bantam. We were originally planning on a flock of 4, and thought they might enjoy being all together.

I confess, I did suspect boredom - she's not the most placid of chickens! Good suggestion to try out different perches and things. I could even have a stash of different things potentially and change them every day or 2 so there's always somehting new to investigate.

Bens Hens - I did wonder if she was fussing about laying eggs initially - she has only just started laying and seems to lack total control over where she lays... we've found some of her first eggs in very odd places (!) but thankfully that seems to have settled down now they're in a new chicken house!

Anyway, thanks both for the input.
I'll give a few things a try!!!
Jenni

 

[Bens-Hens]

Good luck, we have 5-6 cats on the loose too, although they come to look at our girls, non (including chicks) have been taken yet, touch wood.

As for night time, once they know where to go, they put themselves to bed at dusk. We let our's loose to roam the yard with about an hour or so of light left in the day, after dark I go down and simply close the gate.